LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) -- President Evo Morales, whose soccer skills
helped launch his political career, has signed on with a minor league team
in La Paz.

The 47-year-old Morales is listed as a reserve player for Litoral, an
amateur second-division squad organized by the Bolivia's national police,
Renato Arellano, president of the La Paz Soccer Association's technical
committee, told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Litoral could eventually rise to Bolivia's top professional league if
it manages to win a long series of qualifying tournaments this year.

Morales' soccer skills helped him get into politics. As a young man, his
play on a local coca-growers' team caught the eye of leaders in Bolivia's
largest coca-growers' union, which named him its head of sports. He eventually
became union president, launching his career.

Since his 2005 election as Bolivia's first indigenous president, he keeps
in practice with regular public games with palace staffers and retired
Bolivian stars.

Morales has been an outspoken opponent of a FIFA ban on international
matches hosted at high altitudes. Last month, he hosted a charity match
in the Bolivian capital -- 11,800 feet above sea level -- against
an Argentine squad led by retired superstar Diego Maradona.